The Joint Project
by SonicLover
Summary: This story is a joint project with Mat49324. It all starts with a peaceful day at Santa Monica Beach. And then...
1. Relaxing at Santa Monica

The Joint Project  
-

Author's note: In case you missed it, this story is going to be a joint project with Mat49324. I do the odd-numbered chapters, he e-mails me the even-numbered ones (which I may paraphrase before putting up). That clear? Good.

-  
Chapter 1: Relaxing at Santa Monica  
-

11:32 AM - SANTA MONICA BEACH  
"Ah, it's so relaxing over here at the beach," Sam said as she sat on the pier and looked at the waves lapping up on the shore. "But did you HAVE to bring your GameCube, Leo?"  
I looked over at Sam, who was wearing a light pink bathing suit. I myself was wearing a gray T-shirt and red swim-shorts, and sitting at a table with a GCN and portable TV in front of me. "Give me a break, Sam. Video games are half my life. Hey, have you seen Matthew?"  
"Over here," Matthew called from the snack bar. He was wearing swim-shorts that had a black/blue pattern. He was also wearing a shirt with the number 23 on it, but I couldn't quite make out the name. Wouldn't matter much to me anyway; I don't follow motorbike racing.

Meanwhile, Alex and Clover seemed to be having fun in the ocean. Their bathing suits were yellow and purple, respectively. I saw that Alex had a few bruises on her face; it didn't take a detective to figure out that these had been caused by Clover when Alex splashed water on her hair. Some things never change, I suppose.  
"Hey, Sam!" Alex yelled. "You coming in? The water's great!"  
"The water may be great," Sam countered, "but the view's greater. I think I'll just sit here and watch a little longer."

I called over to Matthew. "Hey, Mat! You want to play Sonic Heroes with me?"  
"Sure," he replied. "Just give me a moment." He approached me carrying a dish of nachos for himself and a dish of pretzels for me (I really didn't care for nachos). "Hey, why do you have your DS connected to the GCN like that? Sonic Heroes isn't supposed to use that kind of connectivity."

"Oh, that?" I explained. "I'm downloading the physical stats of Sonic and his pals to the WOOHP X-powder database files. You'll be able to access them with your SP, and the girls with their X-powders. I'm sure Jerry won't mind, since the files don't take up that much space. I don't know what use we might have for them, but I figure better safe than sorry, right? Matthew? Are you even listening?"

Matthew had dozed off. "MATTHEW!" I called, clapping my hands.  
He woke with a start. "Wh-? Oh, sorry, Leo. I got a little bored."

"No harm done," I told him. "I'm going with Team Dark. Which team you want? Sonic, Rose, or Chaotix?"  
"I'll go with THAT team any day," Matthew decided, pointing at the girls.

Overhearing the whole thing, Sam rolled her eyes and sighed. "Boys."

My DS beeped, indicating that the download was complete. I disconnected it and put it back in my shirt pocket. "Not very funny, Matthew. Which team do you want?"

-  
So there we are. The next chapter goes to Mat, so I'd better wait for his feedback. 


	2. A Game of Sonic Heroes

The Joint Project

Author's note: Even though this was written by Matthew, he chose to wrote it from my point of view. Shrug.

-

Chapter 2: A Game of Sonic Heroes (Matthew didn't title it)

-

**1:00 P.M. - Santa Monica Beach**

Matthew was sitting with me on the beach right next to Sam. He pointed his finger at Sam as a friendly gesture. Sam pointed back at him.

"I'm picking Team Sonic, dude!" Matthew said to me.  
"I bet you 15 bucks that I can kick your butt in 'Sonic Heroes', because I've gotten 61 percent of that side of the story done, but I haven't been playing that game recently because I've been fully addicted to 'MX Vs. ATV Unleashed' lately."

Matthew was pointing his finger at me, but it was still a friendly gesture. I think.

"Don't point at me like that," I reminded Matthew.  
"It makes me nervous. Do you at least remember how to play?"

"Of course I do," Matthew said back.  
"I remember how to play off the back of my hands. Do you still accept my bet, Leo old buddy old pal?"

"Mmmm... Sure, why not, and the loser has to hand over 15 bucks AND go out with Brittney sometime this week," I said to Matthew.

"Knowing Matthew," Clover whispered to Alex, "after that addition, he'll WANT to lose." They both laughed.

"Deal," Matthew said as we both hit each other's fists.

With that, we both hit START and the game started.

"Go, Matthew," Sam mused to herself while she lay on her back on the pier to soak up some more rays from the sun.

(Note: All material in this chapter from this point on is mine; Matthew did not know where to go from here. I will, however, keep using Mat's format.)

We began playing. "Say, Matthew, why aren't you wearing your Voss 13 shirt today?" I finally said.  
"You usually do that when we go to the beach."

"It was in the wash today, so I went with Lewis 23. It's no big deal, just a difference of ten," Matthew explained.

We both laughed. "I'm glad you went with Battle," Matthew finally said.  
"I love that kind of thing."

"It's not my favorite, but I went with it anyway," I responded.

We both played like crazy, but I really turned the tables when my Team Blast meter was full. I used the Team-Dark-exclusive Team Blast move, damaging all three members of Team Sonic and freezing their motion to boot. I then swapped Shadow in for Omega and knocked Sonic and Knuckles off the stage. Only Tails remained when the move ran out.

I paused the game and looked at Matthew. "Any last words?"

Before Matthew could respond, our seats tipped and dumped us down a trapdoor. Both controllers came unplugged in the process.

-  
Well, that's one way to end a chapter, I guess.  
Note to Mat: Don't send it as a .rtf file next time. That file got a little messed up during the transmission, but I did the best I could. 


	3. Mission

The Joint Project

Author's note: Yes, that fast. Third chapter. Mat will do the fourth.

-  
Chapter 3: Mission  
-

1:06 PM - WOOHP MISSION ROOM  
Matthew and I landed in a heap in the room, and our GCN controllers fell to the floor. I got up and fetched my pencil, which had ended up in Matthew's hair during the fall. "I guess this means the bet's off," I decided.

Clover and Alex came down a separate chute, and Sam a third. Jerry approached us. "Girls? Leo? Matthew? Did I interrupt anything important?"  
"Only the most intense Sonic Heroes game ever," Matthew replied, getting up. "Could ya give us a five-second warning next time?"

Sam got up and looked around. "What's going on here? It looks like WOOHP is a little deconstructed."  
"We've been renovating WOOHP a little," Jerry explained. "Don't worry, the briefing equipment works. Here, let me show you."

A picture of a haunted house showed up on the monitor, and Alex got a little scared. "This is Horror Haven," Jerry told us, "a haunted house that opened up in Cleveland, Ohio, just a few weeks ago."  
"Ohio?" I blinked. "I lived there before we moved to Beverly Hills. I guess there are coincidences everywhere you look."  
Matthew nodded. "This keeps up, our next mission will take place in Hawaii!"

"Don't interrupt me, you two," Jerry said. "Now, as I was saying. For some reason, nobody who enters Horror Haven ever returns. It's up to you five to investigate. I'll provide you with a list of all the known people who vanished in Horror Haven; it may help you."  
Clover looked around. "Would it be safe to assume by the renovations that our choice of gadgets will be less than ideal?"  
"I'm afraid so," Jerry explained, adjusting his tie. "You will get heat-sensor 6000 infra-red motion-detector sunglasses, earring communicators, digital wristwatch flashlights, and the sonic disintegrator boombox. And, of course, the boys will get the appropriate substitute gadgets."

"That doesn't sound like such a bad line-up of gadgets," Alex commented.  
"Well, there's one more thing. Due to the renovations, you won't be able to use your jetpack-backpacks. Repairs, you know. Your X-powders- and DS, and GBA-SP- will still be normally usable, though."

Matthew sighed. "That stinks."  
"Don't worry, I'm sure the five of you will find a way around any obstacle that might stand in your way. You always do. Ta-ta."

Jerry pressed a button on his desk. Nothing happened. He pressed it again. Still nothing. Suddenly, he realized what he was doing. "Of course! Silly me! I forgot that the ejection was under repair! Walk this way, please; I'll lead you to the jet. And Leo, when I say walk this way, I mean follow me."  
"Right." I shrugged. "I guess I'm becoming a little too predictable." We followed Jerry out the exit door.

-  
Anyone who's read "A Redhead's Lunch" should understand that last part. See you next chapter! 


	4. A Scary Mission

The Joint Project

Author's note: Mathew (one T this time! Okay?) got stumped halfway through again, but I don't mind finishing his chapters. Well, here it is.

Chapter 4: A Scary Mission  
-

**2:32 p.m. - Horror Haven - Cleveland, OH**

The spies, Mathew and I approached the steps of the haunted house. The girls were wearing their jumpsuits, Mathew was wearing an orange KTM motocross shirt with the number 100 and the last name "Hansen" on the back, and black pants. I wore my jumpsuit as well (for those of you who don't remember "Training", it was silver).

"So, this is the haunted house," Mathew said.

"You know what that means?" I said.

"What's that, Leo?" Sam asked.

"Dust, ghouls/ghosts, etc." I responded.

"And I'm allergic to dust," Mathew pointed out.

"You guys go on ahead. I'm gonna stay out here, and I'll just sit here and enjoy the flowers," Clover said laughing nervously.

"Cloverrrrr," Mathew and I said as we hit our foreheads.

"This is not the time to be backing out, Clover," Alex snapped.

"Okay okay okay, I'm comin'," Clover complained.

"Rematch after the mission, pal?" Mathew whispered to my ear.

"You're on!" I whispered back to him.  
"Plus we use the same stakes; the 15 bucks and the date with Brittney."

We pointed fingers at each other as friendly gestures (really). For some reason, it didn't make me as nervous this time. I guess that's because I had other things to be nervous about.

"Can we get this mission going on right now, guys?" Sam said, feeling impatient.

"Alrighty, Sammy," Mathew said.

We finished up what we were talking about and entered the haunted house to find out where the people whom had entered it didn't come out.

(Again, the rest of this chapter is my material.)

Alex was beginning to shiver. "It's creepy in here," she said.

"Duh," Sam shot back.  
"That's the whole point of a haunted house."

Alex fell silent. "Right. I keep forgetting."

At that moment, an ethereal figure appeared in front of us. "Turn back now," it urged.

Alex decided this was a good idea, but Sam grabbed her. "This is no time to flee, you sissy," she reminded her.

I turned to the figure. "Who are you?"

"I am the ghost of William Evans," it explained.  
"And I'm here to warn all visitors to keep them from sharing my fate."

Mathew stepped up. "Uh, just what WAS your fate anyway?"

The ghost did not hesitate to answer. "My body was lost to the tricks and traps of Horror Haven, and this is what happened to me. Now I'm doomed to haunt this place until I'm liberated."

Sam did not believe in ghosts, and she challenged its existence. "How can we be so sure you're really a ghost?"

"Have you tried your heat-sensor 6000 sunglasses?" Mathew suggested. He was already using them; there was a signature of some lack of heat right where the ghost was.

Clover was just looking up the William Evans name with her X-powder. "I guess that's a true story. Look here; his name is on the list of people who vanished in Horror Haven."

Alex attempted to make another quick getaway, but I stopped her. "Now, now, Alex. Cowardice won't get this mission completed."

We continued past the ghost. "Don't worry," I assured him.  
"We can handle Horror Haven. We'll liberate you from this ghastly place."

Yeah, wait for the next chapter, blah blah blah. 


	5. A Loss and a Gain

The Joint Project

Author's note: I couldn't wait. Here's the next chapter. I'm going on a trip to New Orleans tomorrow, so I feel I should get it started.

IMPORTANT: Unlike the previous chapters, I've written this one from **Sam's** point of view, instead of mine. Don't get confused.

-  
Chapter 5: A Loss and a Gain  
-

02:40 PM - INSIDE HORROR HAVEN  
"We'd better be careful," I warned the group. "That ghost back there said there are a lot of tricks and traps around Horror Haven."  
Alex was not amused. "That stuff is superstitious-"  
WHOOPS! A trap door opened up, dropping Alex and Clover down. Mathew was about to jump in and follow them, but it closed, and wouldn't open again.

"Okay, everyone," Leo said, "raise your hand if you saw that one coming." The three of us all raised our hands.

Further down the hall, we encountered a huge pit. There were absolutely no ledges on the sides of it, but the walls were intact.  
"No handholds," I concluded, running my hand over the wall after examining it with my wristwatch flashlight. "The wall has practically no friction at all. And the pit is way too big to jump over."  
"On top of that," Mathew added, "our jetpack-backpacks can't be used. How do we get across?"

Leo walked up to the edge of the pit and looked around. After a few moments, his face brightened. "I think crossing this pit will be a cinch. I just need to fly."  
"Fly?" I interjected. "Don't you remember-"

"Yes, yes, I remember that," Leo reminded me, getting out his DS. "But while WE might not be able to fly, I know who can." He removed the stylus from its slot on the back of the DS and began tapping, tapping, tapping the bottom screen like crazy, leaving Mathew and me confused.

After one last tap, Leo's DS activated, changing him into an exact replica of the two-tailed fox Miles "Tails" Prower. (The pencil behind his right ear- it's always there- remained intact.) After a stunned silence, Mathew spoke up. "Leo, what in the name of Kawasaki did you do to yourself?"  
He explained quickly. "It was simple, really. I activated the instant-disguise module, and chose to open a file manually. Remember those files of Sonic and friends that I downloaded from the Sonic Heroes disc? I chose one of those. It was a little risky, but I think it worked perfectly."

Mathew gasped. "I have to try that! Stop me if I do something wrong." As he was using his GBA-SP to mimic Leo's procedure, I watched over his shoulder to make sure I understood. He chose a different file, and was transformed to look just like Sonic the Hedgehog.

"Now for the important part," Leo told us. "Wait until I'm safely across, then follow." He started up his new twin tails, lifted off, and flew straight across to the other side.  
Once Leo landed, Mathew jumped up and hit one wall with a Homing Attack. He then proceeded to hop from wall to wall using the Triangle Jump that the boys knew so well.

What Mathew had failed to remember, however, was how dusty the wall was. At the last jump, he sneezed and fell off the wall. Leo flew down and saved him just in time. "Thanks a lot, Leo," Mathew said to Leo. "I owe you one."  
"No problem," Leo replied. "That's what friends are for."

While I watched this feat of heroism, I almost forgot about crossing the pit. I opened my X-powder and copied the boys' methods, opting for Rouge the Bat. Flying across was no big deal at all, as it turned out.

MEANWHILE - UNKNOWN AREA  
"Sir, we've just noticed something strange on security monitor 28C. Apparently a two-tailed fox, a hedgehog, and a bat have cleared the large pit and are coming this way."  
"What? Let me see that monitor! Hm, this IS strange. I would never expect- Hey, wait! Get a close-up of the fox's ear."  
"Yes, sir. Just give me a moment … there!"

"Just as I thought. A pencil. That fox must be Leo. And I'd be willing to bet that the bat and hedgehog are Sam and Matthew."  
"Should we 'ghost' them, like we did with Clover and Alex?"  
"No, they'd probably outsmart us if we did that. Let's cage them."  
"Okay, sir."

-  
That last dialogue exchange was just to build suspense. It does indicate, however, that whoever is behind the Horror Haven disappearances has probably had a run-in with WOOHP before. 


	6. A Ghost of a Chance

The Joint Project

Author's note: I just got back from New Orleans, so here's the next chapter. Also, Mat is still writing from my point of view. Not that I'm complaining.

-  
Chapter 6: A Ghost of a Chance  
-

Mathew and I continued to walk along with Sam. All we could find was more and more dust and nothing else.

"The rematch with the two of us determines who goes out with Brittney, you know," I reminded Mathew.

"I know," Mathew replied back to me.  
"But since you almost kicked my butt in our first match, I'll go out with her, but we still have our rematch."

I was shocked at what Mathew said, but I made it official that our rematch was mandatory.

(Mat fell flat early this time, but it gives me more to write, so I don't mind.)

"Don't the two of you ever talk about anything other than that stupid rematch?" Sam interrupted.  
"We've got serious business ahead of us!"

Mathew sighed. "Right. Sorry."

For a moment, the walk continued silently. Then, something passed through the wall. Another ghost, probably. The ghost turned to face us. "Who are you?"

"Clover?" Sam exclaimed, recognizing the ghost in an instant.  
"Is THAT what happened to you after you disappeared?"

"Yes," the ghost responded.  
"The last thing I remember was some guy putting Alex and me in some strange machine, and the next thing I knew, we were like this."

"So Alex is a ghost too," I deduced.

As if on cue, Alex's ghost showed up as well.  
Mathew stepped forward. "You probably don't recognize us the way we are. Rouge over there is Sam, Tails is Leo, and I'm Mat. Blame a great idea of Leo's for our appearance."

"When I tried to get away, you stopped me," the Alex ghost reminded us.  
"And now look what's happened to me!"

"Don't worry, we'll liberate you," Sam assured the ghosts.  
"Tell me a little more about this machine you mentioned."

"Well, what I remember is that it was really big, and that the name GHOSTIONIZER or something like that was printed on the side," Clover explained.

"Ghostionizer?" Sam confirmed.  
"How do you spell that?"

Before anyone else could say anything, a trap door opened up, dropping Sam, Mathew, and me down. Not that you'd expect a trap door to drop us up. Or sideways, for that matter.

-  
Yeah, a little suspense here. 


	7. Who's Behind This?

The Joint Project

Author's note: Two chapters in a row, because I can. Like Chapter 5, this one is from Sam's point of view.

-  
Chapter 7: Who's Behind This?  
-

CRASH! Mathew and I landed in a heap on the floor of some kind of dungeon cell. Leo wasn't with us for some reason.

A familiar-looking man approached us, holding Clover's X-powder. "A bat and a hedgehog. We don't get too many of these in Horror Haven. But, tell me, Sam and Matthew, whatever happened to that fox Leo?"  
Mathew got up. "It's Mathew. One T, not two. Get it right for once, Tim Scam."

As I got up and joined Mathew, Tim Scam continued speaking. "Sorry. That's just an uncommon spelling. But there is also one 'T' in 'You are in deep **t**rouble'!"  
"How corny," I muttered. "You must be a friend of Leo's."  
"Corn is one of my favorite vegetables," Scam countered, looking around. "Now, where could Leo have ended up?"

Tim Scam looked up, and Mathew and I did the same thing. One of Leo's tails had gotten caught in the trap door as it closed, leaving him dangling and muttering some words I can't repeat.  
"So that's where he ended up," Mathew finally said. "Leo, quit making a clown out of yourself and come down here!"  
"I didn't choose to get stuck like this," Leo shot back. "Now GET ME DOWN, SOMEBODY!"

Tim Scam jostled a nearby lever, the trap door opened a little more, and Leo dropped down and landed on top of Mathew. I couldn't resist a quick laugh. Scam joined in the laughter. "The Three Stooges, live!"

"What in the world is going on over here?" one of Scam's soldiers asked, approaching our cell.  
"Nothing that concerns you," Scam replied. "Get back to your post at the Ghostionizer."

Mathew asked the inevitable question: "What in the world is a Ghostionizer?"  
"Oh, I guess I forgot to explain. The Ghostionizer is what I use to turn the tourists I capture into ghosts. Like I did with Clover and Alex. In time I plan to use it to fill Horror Haven with ghosts, making it really haunted! It's got everything, even a reverse switch!"  
"It always has a reverse switch," Leo whispered to Mat and me. "Always." More laughter.

The same soldier from before came back. "Why do I keep hearing laughter from this stupid cell?"

As Tim Scam was distracted, I took out my sonic disintegrator boom-box and began to play it. The intense noise caused Scam and the soldier to fall to the ground, and Leo snatched the cell key from Scam's pocket. The door was unlocked in seconds.  
"Leo, Mathew," I instructed the boys, "take out Tim Scam and his henchmen. I'll go find Alex and Clover and try to figure out how to get them back to normal."

Leo gave me a pointing gesture, just like Mathew always does. "Sure thing, bat girl." I promptly whacked him.

-  
Well, that's all for this chapter. Not a lot, but oh well. 


	8. Final Leg of the Mission

The Joint Project

Author's note: This chapter has been on hold for a long time for personal reasons; i.e. I had lost interest in it. But by popular demand (from Mat49324), I've made this chapter. Due to its length, I had to split it into two parts, which will be this chapter and the next one.

-

Chapter 8, Part 1: Final Leg of the Mission  
-  
Sam ran through various sections of the haunted house to find Clover and Alex and get them back.

"Okay, if I'm Clover or Alex, where would I be?" Sam asked herself.

She continued flying as Rouge the Bat until she heard footsteps.

(Mat did bits and pieces of this chapter. Now we switch from his material to mine.)

With the lightning-quick reflexes that made her an expert WOOHP spy, Sam jumped to the ceiling and hung there while she watched the entrant.

Surprise, surprise! It was Mandy.

"This stuff is supposed to scare me," Mandy muttered to herself.  
"Nothing here is scary at all, though. Even ghosts don't frighten me. I wouldn't-"

At that moment, Mandy spotted Sam, and her attitude did a 180.

"Eek! A bat!" Mandy shrieked.  
"I hate bats! I'm getting out of here this instant!"

Sam watched Mandy flee, and giggled a little. Two others joined her quickly, and they turned out to be Clover and Alex.

"Oh, there you are, you two!" Sam greeted the ghosts, dropping down.  
"I thought I'd never find you! I can get you back to normal; just follow me."

(And now we switch back to Mat's material.)

Meanwhile, Mathew and me (sic) thought of what to do to get Clover and Alex back and save everybody.

"Anybody got any garlic?" Mathew asked.

"This is not the time to be thinking about food, Mathew," I said to him.

"I wasn't thinking of food, Leo; vampires are sensitive to garlic, right?" Mathew asked me.

"Right, and so …" I said.  
"What does that have to do with our plan?"

"I was thinking if any of us had any garlic, we could pour some on the ghosts and they could - no, forget that. How about a little flashlight?" Mathew answered, rethinking his idea.

"What do we need a flashlight for?" I asked Mathew, dumbfounded.

"Ghosts are sensitive to light; so, if anybody has a flashlight, maybe we could put them back to normal!" Mathew said, finishing up his plan.

"That's a great idea, Mathew," I said, excited.  
"Now, why didn't I think of that?"

(And now back to my material.)

"But we really should leave that to Sam," Mathew quickly said.  
"We've got Tim Scam to deal with, after all."

I nodded. "Do you still remember those Sonic Heroes moves? How about flight formation?"

Mathew was still like Sonic, and I was still like Tails. I flew up and grabbed Mathew, hovering over Scam's henchmen and heading right for him.

"THUNDER SHOOT!" I called, kicking Mat at Tim Scam. He hit directly, knocking Tim down, and returned to me.

"You've got a great kick," Mathew commented after regaining his senses.  
"Maybe you should try out for the school soccer team."

"Sports isn't my thing," I told Mat.  
"I appreciate the suggestion, though. I just might give it a try."

The battle went on for a while, with Scam and his henchmen taking blow after blow from Thunder Shoots, Homing Attacks, and so on and so forth. While the battle went on, Sam snuck behind the entire commotion and led Clover and Alex back to the Ghostionizer or whatever that thing was called.

"There's got to be a reverse switch on here somewhere," Sam muttered, examining the thing from top to bottom.  
"Ah! Here it is."

Flip! The switch went from forward to reverse, and Sam directed Clover and Alex back through the machine so that they returned to their old selves.

"Much better," Alex said once she was back to normal.  
"Now, let's take care of Tim Scam!"

Scam, however, had pulled a fast one, using Clover's X-powder to transform himself to look like Tails. Since my pencil had escaped my ear during the bout, it did not seem possible to tell the difference.

Looking back and forth between Scam and me, Mathew thought about how to figure out which one was me, and which was Scam. Suddenly, he had an idea.

"All right, you two," Mathew asked the two of us.  
"What's the best way to tell what the weather will be like on Tuesday?"

Scam was silent, but I spoke. "Wait until Wednesday!"

Only I would respond to that question with a joke like that. Now that Scam was exposed, the battle was over in minutes.  
-  
Long, eh? Well, stay tuned! 


	9. A Sleepover

The Joint Project

Author's note: What did I tell you? I had to split the chapter up because of its length. Here's the second part. The next and last chapter will be all my material.  
-  
Chapter 8, Part 2: A Sleepover  
-  
**3:09 P.M. - Spies' Villa**

The girls had invited Mathew and me over for a sleepover as thanks for saving Alex and Clover from almost becoming ghosts for good. Sam was wearing her blue formal that stopped at her chest, and brown pants. Alex was wearing her yellow dress with a flower on the left side. Clover was wearing her pink shirt and purple pants. I was wearing my red T-shirt and blue jeans. Mathew was wearing gray pants, and his red motocross T-shirt with the last name "Grant" on the back and underneath it was a 35.

"Thanks, Sammy," Mathew said to Sam.

"No problem. The pleasure's all ours."

"Yeah. At first I thought we were gonna spend our entire day at the beach before Jerry WOOHP'd us, but you three inviting the two of us over for a sleepover is much better," I improvised on what Mathew said.

I suddenly remembered something important.

"Hey, Mathew! Our rematch?" I said to Mathew.

"Oh yeah, I almost plumb forgot about that," Mathew said, slapping his forehead.

We began to rush to the TV with my Gamecube underneath my arm. Sam chuckled to herself.  
"Figures they'd do their rematch. This I gotta see."

She began to sit on the couch too. Alex and Clover looked at each other and decided to join Sam.

"Hey, Leo old pal?" Mathew said to me.

"What?" I said.

"Do you have Sonic Adventure 2 Battle?" I asked.

"Yeah, sure," I said.  
"Why? Do you wanna do our rematch on that, instead of 'Sonic Heroes'?"

"Yeah," Mathew said.  
"How about a race at City Escape?"

"Deal - and we use the same stakes: the 15 bucks and the date with Brittney," I added.

"You're on!" Mathew said to me, and we started to play. He picked Sonic, I went with Shadow.

Mathew was leading for pretty much the whole game before he had to reach over to scratch his chest because it was a little itchy. I could sense a chance to make an upset.

(And from here on it's my material.)

Before Mathew had a chance to react, I guided Shadow to smack Sonic with a Homing Attack and knock him off the rail he was on. From there Mathew couldn't catch up in time, and I won the race.

"Um … two out of three?" Mathew asked me.

"Forget it, pal," I shot back.  
"A loss is a loss. Now fork over the fifteen."

Sighing, Mathew reached into his pocket and handed me a ten and a five. I put it in my wallet.

"You did pretty well, though, before that upset," I complimented.  
"Heck, you might as well have been Sonic himself!"

Mathew looked at me funny, and I quickly caught my mistake. He then approached the phone and dialed a number. "Hello? Brittney? Are you free tomorrow afternoon?"  
-  
No comment. 


	10. Wrapping Up

The Joint Project

Author's note: Okay, here's the last chapter. It's about time I managed to get this done. Mat, I tried to work a little of your material in here.

-

Chapter 9: Wrapping Up

-

THE NEXT DAY - SANTA MONICA BEACH

Brittney and Mathew were sitting on the pier, watching the waves crash down on the sand. I didn't get a good look, but I think I saw them trying to kiss each other.

"Coming here was an excellent idea," Brittney said to Mathew. "The sunset looks so romantic …"

"Yes," Mathew agreed. "I wish this evening could last forever. I'm kind of glad Leo won that bet with me; otherwise, I probably wouldn't have asked you out like this."

Brittney nearly double-taked upon hearing this. "You're saying you asked me out because you LOST a bet?"

Mathew nodded. "Kind of silly, huh? By the way, do you like classical music?"

"Classical music? I don't listen to it often, so I'm not sure," Brittney replied. She was about to say something else when Mathew took out a CD player and started it. The air was filled with sample pieces from classical songwriters such as Beethoven and Mozart.

For a moment, the two of them sat and listened to the music (which, I must admit, I liked as well). Sam interrupted them, though: "Could you turn that music down, please?"

"Sorry," Mathew said back to Sam as he turned down the volume.

The three girls and I were sitting nearby and having a chat. Sam turned back to us and continued talking: "Seriously, Mandy saw me as a bat and her courage just vanished. I'm still laughing about that one."

"No kidding," I responded, "I'd laugh too."

"That's because you get almost all of your laughs out of Mandy's suffering," Clover pointed out.

"Well, yeah."

Suddenly, I stood up. "I just thought of something. Where's the nearest novelty shop around here?"

"There's one down that road," Alex replied, pointing. "It's on the right side of the street, just before the corner."

I dashed down the road Alex pointed out and found the shop. Not long after, I exited the shop holding a bag with something in it.

"Look at that Leo," Mathew commented, noticing me. "This must be another one of those pranks he always pulls on Mandy."

"This should be a good show," Brittney added. "Let's go watch."

Mandy was walking down the sidewalk at that point with her two "lackeys". "As far as I'm concerned," she said, "that trip I made to Horror Haven yesterday was a total bust. It totally bored me; I'm going somewhere else next time."

"Oh, you were just too scared," one "lackey" shot back as I climbed up on top of an awning that they were about to walk under.

"Please! You know nothing ever scares me," Mandy retorted.

This was my cue. I dangled something down in front of Mandy's face, and she shrieked and ran back the other way.

"Scared of a cheap novelty fake bat," the second "lackey" muttered as she examined what I'd dangled. "Boy, that girl doesn't have half the courage she says she has."

"I heard that!" Mandy yelled as she turned around and ran back to join her "lackeys". "There's only one person I know who would go to all this trouble just to do this to me, and that person's name is …"

I'll let you figure out for yourself how Mandy finished that sentence.

-

THE END

Boy, I got a kick out of making this story. It's finally done now, and Mat, I guess you can now get started on that joint project with É who was it again? 


End file.
